I'm very happy – and proud – to report that one of my columns Why China and Sherlock are right – has been included in Sparks, A Year In E-Publishing - An Authors Electric Anthology 2011-2012. Sparks tells a tale of writers seizing new opportunities and refusing to give up in the face of cut-backs and a general unwillingness amongst publishers to take risks with work that doesn’t fit conventional categories. When Carnegie Medal-winning Susan Price and fellow author Katherine Roberts found that their backlist titles were no longer available they decided to republish those books themselves. They were joined by other authors who were determined to write and see published books they believed in, which they knew would never achieve commercial publication. So, in the summer of 2011, Authors Electric was born.

Electronic publishing was initially regarded with suspicion, and self-publishing referred to with contempt. In a daily blog which attracts regular readers in the UK, US and across the world, members of Authors Electric share their thoughts on these issues, and talk about their work and experience as independent writer-publishers There have been struggles, moments of excitement and disillusion and many notable successes. This first anthology of Authors Electric blogposts describes their journey so far.

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